JACKSONVILLE, Ill. – The Illinois College men's soccer team fed off a large crowd and scored an emotional 2-1 victory over Beloit College on Sunday afternoon during the Rally for Robbie match at England Stadium. The win for the Blueboys improves the team to 6-10-2 (2-5-0 Midwest Conference) on the season.
With the biggest crowd of the season on hand to honor
Robbie Lopez as he battles cancer, the Blueboys came out fired up and put two past Beloit keeper Luis Rodriguez during a six-minute stretch in the middle of the first half. IC seemed to be on the front foot during an energetic opening 15 minutes, but didn't put a shot on target until
Bryan Hamilton scored past Rodriguez in the 19th minute. The shot came as a result of a free kick from deep in the IC defensive third from
Brock Ziegemeier that was re-directed by
Spencer Bloome into the path of Hamilton who benefitted from a stumble from a Buccaneer defender and didn't miss his opportunity to give the Blueboys the lead.
Just a few minutes later,
Caleb Saldana took a foul to earn IC a free kick just outside the 18-yard box.
Thomas Saitta whipped a cross in at the back post and
Muamer Kermo headed home to make it 2-0 in the 25th minute. The Blueboys would take that 2-0 lead into the break.
Beloit came out energized in the second half and controlled much of the possession in the second half. Despite outshooting Illinois College by a 10-4 margin in the second half, the Buccaneers were mostly kept at bay. Things got tougher on the visitors with less than nine minutes remaining when defender Casey Wagner was yellow-carded twice in rapid succession to earn an ejection from the contest, leaving the Bucs down a man the rest of the way.
Despite the disadvantage, Beloit was able to cut the lead in half with a goal by Patrick Casola off of a corner kick with just over four minutes to play. The Buccaneers would press for a second goal to tie it up, but IC didn't allow another shot attempt the rest of the way.
Raul Rubalcava earned the win in goal for the Blueboys, making three saves.
Illinois College makes its final road trip of the season next weekend, traveling to Lake Forest College on Oct. 26 for a 1:30 p.m. start with the Foresters.
